HND Business Law: Examining the UK Court Structure and Contract Law

This essay provides an overview of the UK court structure, dividing it into subordinate and superior courts, detailing their functions from County Courts to the Supreme Court. It further explains contract law, emphasizing the four essentials of a valid contract: offer, acceptance, consideration, and intention to create legal relationships, including discussions on domestic, social, and commercial contracts. The essay also touches upon the privity of contract and the capacity to contract, referencing key legal cases to illustrate these principles. The document concludes with a list of references used.

Business Law

Table of Contents
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
UK court structure and its functions.......................................................................................3
Contract law............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

MAIN BODY
UK court structure and its functions
The UK judicial system is divided into two legal system of which first is subordinate
courts and second is superior court. The subordinate court includes firstly the County courts
which is also known as court of first instance which deals only with civil matters. Next is
Magistrate court which deals with minor criminal offences while the Crown court deals with
major criminal offences and the cases which are transferred or appealed from Magistrate court.
The superior court includes firstly the Supreme court of UK that is the highest court in England
which hears appeal from the decision of Court of Appeal and High court. Then is Court of
Appeal which comprises of two divisions, civil and criminal and appeal from their decisions are
heard by Supreme Court. High court which has three divisions, first is Queen's bench, Chancery
and Family divisions. Their decisions are appealed in the Civil division of Court of Appeal
(Assländer and Hudson, 2017).
Contract law
The contract is an agreement which is made between two parties in order to make their
contractual obligation binding. There are mainly 4 essentials of the valid contract which includes
the following- Offer: It is a proposal made by one party to other to do or not to do something. In the
case of Harvey v. Facey, the judicature held that offeror must show the intention that it is
bound by the offer. Acceptance: When the other accepts the offer of the offerer, the binding contract is being
formed. In the case of Entorres v. Miles Far East, the court ruled that the acceptance
must be communicated to offeree in an effective manner in order to form the contract. Consideration: it is concerned with bargain of contract as a contract is based on exchange
of promises made by the promisee. In the case of Thomas v. Thomas, It is something of
the value in eyes of law. There are many types of consideration of which first is executed
where it is paid in present while executory is the one which is for future consideration.
Then is past consideration wherein the voluntary act is done in past in order to help a
party who is making the promise to to do something or pay subsequently (Cowan, 2018).

 Intention to create legal relationship: There are mainly three types of contract domestic
and social which are made between family and friends wherein the court takes the
presumption that parties do not intent to have the legal relations so they are not legally
bound by agreement. It was ruled in the case of Jones v. Padavatton. Then in case of
commercial contract, the presumption is raised that parties have the intention to create
legal relations. It was ruled in the case of Esso Petroleum v. Commissioners of Customs
and Excise. Privity of contract: It is the common law principle which states that the contract will not
confer the rights or impose the obligations on any person who is not the party to contract.
In the case of Price v. Easton, the contract was formed for the work which is to be done
in the exchange for the payment to third party. The court held that there is no privity of
contract so the claim failed.
 Capacity at privity of contract: This simply means the that parties who are part of the
contract has capacity to claim this doctrine and no one else. The parties needs to be of
sound mind, attain the age of majority and capable of making an understanding of
contract terms (Davis and Geyfman, 2019).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Assländer, M.S. and Hudson, S. eds., 2017. The Handbook of Business and Corruption: Cross-
sectoral Experiences. Emerald Group Publishing.'
Cowan, S., 2018. All change or business as usual? Reforming the law of rape in
Scotland. Reforming the Law of Rape in Scotland (May 28, 2018). Rethinking Rape
Law: International and Comparative Perspectives Edited by Clare McGlynn and
Vanessa Munro (Routledge 2010), Edinburgh School of Law Research Paper,
(2018/21).
Davis, L.M. and Geyfman, V., 2019. The Business of Title IX Revisited. JL & Educ., 48, p.335.